Senate Might Take Up Outbound Investment Bill in NDAA Debate, Lawmaker Says
The Senate might consider legislation to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China during its deliberations on the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this month, a key lawmaker said Sept. 3.
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“It looks to me like it's probably going to be in the stack of votes” on NDAA amendments, said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who introduced the Foreign Investment Guardrails to Help Thwart China Act, or Fight China Act, as a stand-alone bill in March (see 2503130059). “That’s my understanding of the current plan," Cornyn told Export Compliance Daily.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said he hopes to have the Senate take up NDAA amendments as early as Sept. 4 but that no decision has been made on which ones will be considered. “We’re running a hotline on a manager’s package and also some test amendments out there to see what we can vote on,” Wicker told reporters. His committee approved the NDAA in July, sending it to the full Senate for its consideration (see 2507110022).
Cornyn’s bill is intended to build on the Trump administration’s February executive order on outbound investment (see 2502240051). Similar legislation was included in the initial version of a temporary government spending measure, or continuing resolution, that Congress considered in December, but it was removed from the slimmed-down version that became law (see 2412180034 and 2412230038).